All Grown Up
by xSophiax PLLHG
Summary: Spencer Hastings-single mother to 7 year old son Emmett. Toby Cavanaugh-single Father to 6 year old Casey. As the Christmas season beings to roll around, both children yearn for the same thing: a complete family. Is this year the year that maybe all their wishes will come true? Will Spencer finally stability and Toby somebody to make him feel complete?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N Hi, I have returned for what will hopefully be by second full length story depending on what people think of it, so please let me know what you think of it or what you'd like to see happen! So anyway, please enjoy and favourite/follow/review!**

Rosewood's a small town; so small almost everyone knew each other. The people you went to high school with were still the friends you went for a coffee with on a Saturday morning, the teachers you had for Math still stopped you in the shop to give you a quick fire round of sums, and there was always that one girl who everyone judged for getting pregnant just a little too early. That was Spencer Hastings. She wasn't that young, and yet still only four people stood by her for the nine months and the few years she spent raising a baby into a toddler and now a young child, and they were her three best friends Aria Montgomery, Hanna Marin and Emily Fields. The other person was her Mum. Everyone else acted as if they didn't know her. That is until she managed to go to College and get a job and seemingly fit straight back into Rosewood's footsteps.

Now, Spencer lived with her seven year old son Emmett in a small bungalow on the outskirts of the small town, and not out of reach from her friends or Mum. Although her Mum had offered her the barn, Spencer declined the offer a long time ago. She had to be in a place where she knew she couldn't dump Emmett on someone else or not give him the love he deserves. If they lived with Veronica, Spencer knew it would be too easy to ask _her _to cook Emmett's dinner or pick him up from school. Okay so there were the odd one or two days a week where one of her friend's or her Mum did pick up Emmett, but she made them as few as possible and asked them to either drop him off in her classroom at Rosewood High or she picked him up from their house as soon as possible. She wasn't going to let Emmett feel the same way she did growing up.

"Morning sweetie" Spencer smiled through her coffee mug when she saw Emmett emerge from the kitchen all wrapped up in his Superman dressing gown and matching pyjamas. "Did you sleep well?"

Emmett nodded sleepily and clumsily pulled out the chair opposite Spencer's at the kitchen table. Unlike Spencer, he was not a morning person. "Are you picking me up after school today?"

"I'm not too sure yet Emmey" She sighed. Spencer now taught at Rosewood High as a French teacher, and she had promised one of the girls in her sophomore class some extra help. "How about I ask Auntie Aria to pick you up if I can't?" Emmett was closest to Aria out of Spencer's three friends, and six months ago Aria gave birth to her first child Scarlet, so she was still on maternity leave from her drama teaching at Hollis.

"Yeah!" Emmett beamed. "Do you think Ezra will be home?" He was also quite close to Ezra; he looked up to him almost as the father figure he so badly wanted.

Spencer shrugged with a contained smile. "I'm not sure, you'll have to wait and find out" She finished her coffee and put the mug straight into the sink. "Now what do you want for breakfast?"

"Umm" Emmett's eyebrows furrowed and his chocolate eyes clouded with thought. "Rice Krispies please"

Already with her hand laid on the blue box, Spencer pulled out the Rice Krispies and poured a reasonable amount into a bowl with lots of milk and placed it in front of Emmett with a spoon. "So what are you doing at school today?" She asked as she started to make Emmett's lunch.

"Well" Emmett said with a mouthful of Krispies. "Our class is being put with the first graders and we are starting to practise the Nativity play" Every year, Rosewood Elementary's first and second graders, so about 40 six to eight year olds, put on a re-enactment of the classic Nativity story for the parents and rest of the school.

"Oh wow, what character do you think you'll be?" Spencer continued to question him while she cut the crusts of some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

"Probably some stupid animal" He huffed and reached up to put his now empty bowl in the sink. "Zack _always _gets the good roles" Of course Zack was bound to come up in this conversation. Zack Kahn's one of the boys in Emmett's class, and his parents are crazy rich and he's spoilt rotten. His Mum Mona runs a national chain of clothing boutique's all across the country while his Dad Noel manages the top Basketball team of the NBA. That meant they could afford tutors for every subject and he had a personal soccer coach. One day Emmett and Zack would be friends, and the next Emmett would come home crying because Zack hit him in the playground. That day was yesterday.

"Well maybe today he won't" Spencer smiled encouragingly and bent down the kiss the top of Emmett's dark, messy waves. "Go on and get changed, and make sure the wrap up warm because it's getting a little chilly now"

XXXXX

After Spencer had dropped Emmett off at school, which was after the conversation about whether Santa was bringing Emmett a Dad for Christmas, Spencer drove across town to Rosewood High. Grabbing her handbag which was full of senior's French workbooks; she entered the school around the back and walked up straight to her classroom, where half of her homeroom class was already in.

"Good morning guys" Spencer said and collapsed onto the chair at her desk. Her homeroom class were a group of sophomores, some of whom she taught third period French to today. "How was your weekend?"

She was answered with a chorus of groans and shrugs.

"I had studying to do _all _weekend" One of the boys, Cameron, moaned. That was followed by a general agreement of the students.

"What did you do this weekend Miss?" The cluster of girls at the back asked. Spencer knew them well; they reminded her of when she was in high school with her friends. The quietest of the four, Rebecca, was the girl who Spencer had to stay behind to help with her French. It was probably the more confident girl, Alyssa, who shouted the question.

"I spent the weekend with my son, and we went to the zoo with some of my friends and their kids" Aria and Spencer weren't the only two out of the four who had kids; Hanna and Emily also had children. Hanna and her husband Caleb and two kids; a three year old girl called Ivy and a one year old boy called Lewis, while Emily and Maya have recently adopted a six week old Filipino girl called Vanessa. "So that's why any of you in my French class don't have a pop quiz today"

"That's cute, and exactly why I want kids" Alyssa smiled and slapped shut her chemistry revision book.

"Trust me, it's not all fun and games" Spencer explained and moved to lean against the front of her desk in front of the now full class. "And nothing something you want at your age. I love Emmett more than anything in this world, but I'm not going to lie and say he wasn't a complete pain in the arse"

"How old were you when you had him?" Cameron asked.

"And why didn't you marry his Dad?" Alyssa added. The class burst into chatter and random accusations.

"Hey!" Spencer shouted to get the class to quieten down. "I should think you all have studying to do"

XXXXX

_Hey Spence, just picked up Emmett from school and he has exciting news to tell you! Should I bring him back to mine or drop him off with you? –Aria_

Spencer read the text just as she dismissed her final class of the day and was waiting for Rebecca to come in.

_Thanks Aria, do you mind taking him up to the brew for a hot chocolate first then bring him up to my classroom? Get yourself and Scarlet something as well, my treat –Spence_

By the time Spencer had replied, Rebecca was waiting at the door. "Hi Miss Hastings"

"Hi Rebecca come in and take a seat at one of the front desks" Spencer smiled and tucked her phone into her pocket. "I hope you don't mind but my friend is dropping Emmett off up here in a little while"

"I don't mind" Rebecca said quietly as she pulled out her French book and placed it on the desk. Spencer had never really noticed before because Rebecca sat at the back in homeroom and in French class, but she had the strangest of eyes but in a beautiful way; they were a pale green colour with speckles of brown in, and the strange mix was brought out by her dark waves. There was a splutter of freckles of her nose that gave Rebecca's face a lot more youth than other teenagers her age had.

"So what do you need help with then Rebecca? By my standards you're one of the best in the class" Spencer asked as she sipped at her coffee.

Rebecca sat quietly for a few moments before answering. "I don' really know one point exactly I'm just feeling a bit lost with it all at the moment"

"Well how about we start with the lesson at the beginning of last week when we started grammar changes" Spencer suggested as she opened up her laptop to look for the lesson resources. When she found it, she opened up the PowerPoint and slowly went through it with Rebecca. She set her off with a small section of work just as Aria arrived with Scarlet on her hip and Emmett holding her free hand.

"Hi Spence" Aria smiled and walked to the side of Spencer's desk. Rebecca looked up for a moment and smiled before going back to her work.

"Hi Aria, thanks for picking him up" Spencer said gratefully and pulled Emmett onto her lap. "Did you have a nice hot chocolate?" She asked Emmett as she dug around in her pocket for the money to give to Aria. Emmett nodded and licked his lips. "And what's this news you have to tell me?"

"Miss King gave me the part of Joseph!" Emmett shouted with a huge grin. "And Zack has to be a sheep!"

Spencer smiled and kissed Emmett's cheek. "See, I told you that this morning"

"And we saw Auntie Hanna in the Brew and she said she'd help me find an outfit" Emmett said.

"Did she now" Spencer rolled her eyes and looked up at Aria and Scarlet. "And how's my little angel?" Emmett shuffled off Spencer's knee so she could stand up for Aria to pass Scarlet to her.

"She's good, finally settling into a full night's sleep and learning to crawl" Aria smiled proudly. Spencer giggled and rested Scarlet on her hip as she pulled funny faces at her.

"Oh right Aria this is my student Rebecca, Rebecca this is Aria and my son Emmett running around the back" By now, Emmett was running from one side of the room to the other at the back of the classroom.

"Hi" She said shyly. "Your daughter is beautiful"

"Thank you" Aria smiled, completely entranced by Rebecca's eyes. "Right Spence I need to go, we're supposed to be meeting my Mum out for dinner in Philly tonight and this one needs a bath"

"Okay well have fun" Spencer kissed Scarlet's head and passed her back to Aria with 10 dollars. "And thank you for picking up Emmett"

"Anytime, see you soon" Aria half hugged Spencer. "Nice to meet you Rebecca"

"You too" Rebecca said and watched as Aria left. "Um Miss I finished my work, do you mind checking it?"

"Of course not" Spencer smiled and looked over Rebecca's shoulder at her work. "It's all right, absolutely perfect"

"Oh right, okay" Rebecca reached to scratch the place just above her ear. "Do you want me to go then?"

Spencer shook her head. "I'd like to talk to you for a moment" She walked round and crouched in front of Rebecca's desk and lowered her voice. "Is it French you're having problems with or something else?" Rebecca's eyes flickered towards the ground. "Rebecca, you know you can tell me anything"

"It's just been a long day, and I didn't really want to be alone" Rebecca sniffed, her eye still trained on a dot on the floor.

"Is that it?" Spencer kept digging; she could tell by the look in Rebecca's eyes that there was something else going on.

Just as she was about to reply, Rebecca's phone went off. "Sorry I have to go, my Mum's wondering why I'm not home yet" She said frantically and packed her stuff up quickly. "Thanks for the help Miss Hastings" Before Spencer could say anything else, Rebecca was gone.

"Well then Emmett" Spencer sighed. "You ready to go home?"

XXXXX

For dinner, Spencer made Emmett's favourite; chicken nuggets and chips and peas. He devoured it in a matter of minutes, then did some homework and got ready for bed. Spencer went up once he said he'd changed into his pyjamas.

"Are all tucked in?" Spencer asked once she'd bent down next to Emmett's bed, the bedside lamp leaving her partially blind in her left eyes.

Emmett nodded and rubbed his eyes. "Are you going to come watch the Nativity play?"

"I don't know, I think I'm busy that day..." Spencer teased and started to tickle Emmett's stomach and making him laugh. "I wouldn't miss it for the world, especially since you're the main part!"

"Zack did ask but the teachers said no" Emmett smiled with an inkling of pride. "They said I suited it better"

"Who's playing Mary then?" Spencer didn't know many of the girls in Emmett's class simply because he had reached the 'girl cooties' stage so never really hung around with them for what she understood of his descriptions of break and lunch at school. She knew a few whose Mum's she talked to at the school gates but that was about it.

"Some new girl in the first grade called Casey" Emmett said. "She started last week, and she's really really good at soccer. Her Dad is a policeman, but she doesn't have a Mum, which must be weird"

"How come that's weird?" Spencer asked. "Is it weird that you don't have a Dad?"

"I don't think it's weird, but everyone else does because they said you should have a Mum _and _a Dad. If I've been a good boy this year then surely Santa will bring me a Dad?" Emmett thought out loud. "Have I been bad? Is it because I pinched Zack after he hit me?"

"No of course not, you're a very good boy, apart from the one time you pinched Zack, which I don't want to happen again" Spencer ran a comforting hand through Emmett's curls. "It's just Santa has lots of work to do, and building a Dad takes a whole lot of work for one guy"

"You're right" Emmett sighed sadly. "Maybe he's too busy this year making Casey a Mum"

"Maybe" Spencer smiled and kissed Emmett's forehead. "Goodnight baby boy"

Spencer knew he was tired, otherwise Emmett would moan about being called a baby. "Goodnight Mum, I love you"

"I love you to sweetie" Spencer whispered. "You're all I have"

**A/N Okay so the ending is kind of rubbish but I didn't know what else to do so BAM bad ending. So I think I got the ages and grades right but I am English so I'm not too sure, Emmett is seven and in the second grade which I think is right, and Casey is a year younger than him so in first grade? And is anything going on with Rebecca? Will she end up being an important character? Is this the only chapter she will appear in because it was to show how caring a teacher Spencer is? Who knows. **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Hi! So since the last chapter got a good reaction, I have decided to carry on with this story. **

**I appreciate every review I get, so thank you to sarahschneider2012, prettylittlespoby13, Re23, Spobylover, Emilee Amethyst and the five guests who reviewed the last chapter! I do try to send personal messages of thanks but often don't have the time which makes me sad ****.**

**When I originally planned this story I was hoping it would line up with real time but again because I've been so busy it probably won't work out that way, so instead I'm going to attach a date to each chapter, starting with today. **

**That's the end of the Author's note, it'll probably be the longest one I do, and enjoy the chapter! 10 reviews for the next chapter?**

Monday 15th December

Toby Cavanaugh still remembered the call he got from the social worker three years ago as if it was yesterday. The woman had told him that they'd had his supposed daughter in their care for the past year, and spent most of it trying to track him down to tell him. No way was Toby at a point in his life where he could look after a child; he lived in a small studio apartment in New York with a couple of guys and was a freelance architectural designer, which by surprise didn't pay the bills very well. Regardless, the next week Toby met his daughter, and within a short six months he'd decided to turn his life around by moving to a two bedroom apartment in Philadelphia, near Casey's care home, and completed Police training and got a job with the Philadelphia PD. Toby won the court custody battle against a couple who wanted to adopt Casey, and frankly had got a bad vibe from the couple anyway, despite the fact he wanted nothing more than for Casey to live with him.

Now, Toby sat on the couch in the front room, surrounded by half empty boxes. He'd only moved to Rosewood with Casey last week, and between work, helping Casey with schoolwork and planning Christmas, there was very little time left to unpack. But now Christmas was approaching, Toby had to start getting things sorted and quickly; Casey wouldn't stop begging for a tree.

Dressed already in his police uniform and cradling a mug of coffee, Toby valued the last few moments of silence before he heard the familiar thudding coming down the stairs, signalling the start of yet another day that wouldn't be anywhere near comparable to the one before.

"Morning trouble" Toby laughed and leaned forward to put his mug down on the coffee table; the one of the few things that had been unpacked. He put his arm out to pull Casey onto his lap.

Even for a six year old, Casey was remarkably smaller than most kids her age. She stood at only five foot six, and couldn't way more than forty pounds. With dirty blonde hair and blue eyes brighter than Toby's, she was sure to be a heartbreaker as soon as Toby decides she's old enough for boys (which will probably be twenty years down the line). Unfortunately thankful, Toby was glad Casey had inherited most her Mother's looks; the slim, innocent face, heightened cheekbones and a little dimple of the left side of her face when was smiled the brightest of smiles.

"Guess what Dad?" Casey had a tendency to not start the day with the usual 'good morning' or even 'hello', but instead delved into the story of what her dreams had brought her that night.

"What" Toby asked, exaggerating his eagerness with a smile that couldn't be anything but real.

"In my dream Mum came home for Christmas!" Casey smiled a half toothy grin that would be full if it wasn't for the left-middle tooth she was missing.

"Did she?" Toby raised his eyes, his before happy smile now starting to falter. Casey asked and talked about her Mum a lot, and honestly it made Toby stumped for words every time she did. Of course he didn't want to make his little girl lose hope in that one day her Mum might return, but every second that passed dwindled the optimistic fire in her eyes and it hadn't gone unnoticed. The chances were just getting slimmer and slimmer.

Casey nodded strongly. "I think Santa did it, my teacher at school said that Santa is so magical he can make anything happen!"

"Santa is very magical" Toby nodded in serious agreement then without hesitation quickly stood up and threw Casey onto his shoulders in one slick movement, igniting a warm giggle from Casey's stomach. "Now I remember someone telling me how much they loved strawberry jam on their toast..."

"Me!" Casey shouted through giggles and hiccups caused bythe excessive giggling. "Daddy pleeease"

Toby moved his arms up to pick up Casey and place her on her feet. "As long as you don't wear your soccer strip to school, it's too cold for that"

For the past month Toby had been battling with Casey about what she was wearing to school, which he wasn't expecting to have until at least started High School. Luckily Casey wasn't really into wearing dresses and skirts to school, but instead insisted on wearing one of her soccer strips every day, and every day Casey argued that all the professional players wore it when it was cold. Toby always reminded her that they were adults and spent the best part of the day running around to keep themselves warm, where as Casey had to sit in a room.

"Okay fine" Casey over-exaggeratingly sighed while throwing her arms up in the air, making Toby chuckle.

"Come on then let's go into the kitchen"

XXXXX

Not long after, Toby was driving Casey to school on his way to the police station. By no surprise, Casey brought up the subject of Christmas.

"Is Santa going to come this year?" Casey asked excitedly for her car seat in the back, in full view of Toby's rear-view mirror. "Does he know we live somewhere else now?"

"Santa knows _everything_" Toby told her, his eyes staying trained on the road. "We have nothing to worry about"

Casey sat in her own thoughts for a moment. "If I'm a good girl then Mum might come home for Christmas like in my dream" Hope glistened in the oceans that were her eyes.

"Casey" Toby sighed softly. "We've spoken about this haven't we?" Her Mum had left her a long time ago, and the chances of her coming back were slimmer than Kate Moss's waist.

She nodded sadly. "I'm sorry Daddy" Casey stared at her swinging feet. "Everyone in my class has a Mum at Christmas, I asked them all"

"They might do, but remember they're in a different situation to us aren't they" Toby was shamelessly concentrating on the road more than his daughter; simply because he still couldn't navigate the Rosewood streets quite yet.

"Another boy doesn't have a Dad" Casey said. "His name's Emmett, and he said I'm really good at football!"

_Great_, Toby thought, _worrying about boys already. _"Is he in your class then?"

"No he's in the grade above, but we have to practise the nativity play with them" She explained. "The teachers are handing out parts today"

"Do you have a crush on this Emmett boy then?" Toby half-heartedly teased.

"Ew!" Casey all but screamed, and thankfully Toby had pulled up outside the school already or he probably would have lost control of the steering. "He's a boy, he has boy germs!"

"Well what about the boys you used to play football with in Philadelphia?" Toby asked her. When they lived in the centre of Philly, Toby managed to get Casey to be allowed to play on the boys soccer team as there wasn't a girl's one.

"Well I didn't _fancy _any of them" Casey rolled her eyesat Toby's stupidity.

"Oh ok" He nodded with a knowing smile. "Grandma Marion is going to come pick you up from school and then after work I'll come pick you up alright?" One of the reasons Toby decided it was best to move to Rosewood was because he needed extra help, and his Mum Marion, of who he was incredibly close to, live in the outskirts.

"Can we stay for dinner?" If they were one thing Casey loved more than Toby, it was Grandma Marion's cooking. Some days she loved it even more than soccer.

Toby couldn't help but laugh. "I don't know, you'll have to ask Grandma. Now come on let's get you inside before we're both late"

XXXXX

Carrying in his briefcase of paperwork, Toby went into the station and sat at his desk. Unlike the Philadelphia PD, Rosewood Police Department only held about six desks in the largest room, two private offices and two holding rooms for interviews. In the week he'd been here, he had not seen the interview rooms be used, where as in Philly he was in the interviewing someone at least once a day.

Settled and concentrate, Toby started to flick through some case papers for a while until one of the other officers, Garret, brought him over a cup of coffee.

"So how are you finding Rosewood?" He asked. Toby hadn't really spoken too many of the officers since only two or three were ever in the station at a time, and he was quite shy anyway. All he knew were the other four investigators' names were Garret Reynolds, Darren Wilden, Gabriel Holbrook, and some guy called Caleb Rivers who he hadn't met yet but Toby recognised the name, and he did most of the techy stuff anyway. Of course there were other general policemen and women, but they were mostly patrolling the area or standing around the coffee machines or water coolers sprinkled around the building.

"I'm still trying to find my way around a bit" Toby awkwardly admitted with a thankful smile for the coffee. "But it's a lovely town"

Garret hummed in agreement. "You'll find your way around soon; you just have to find your feet. I'm guessing that's your daughter?" He was referring to the framed picture of Casey stood in the garden wearing her new ladies German soccer squad strip.

"Yeah that's my little girl Casey" Toby couldn't keep the proud smile off of his face. "But if you ever meet her don't tell her I called her that"

"How old is she?" Garret laughed. "My daughter's five and has the exact same attitude"

"She's six" Toby said with the remainders of a laugh. "She isn't seven until July but acts like a teenager sometimes"

"Trust me you don't want one of them" Neither of the men had realised Darren had walked in and sat at his desk across from Toby's. "My son's fourteen and honestly couldn't be harder to handle"

"Oh Darren did you know the system's down?" Garret asked him. "I tried getting in last night but it wouldn't work"

"Yeah I know" Darren sighed. "I've called Caleb to ask if he could come in for a couple of hours to fix it, but his daughter got ill after they went to the zoo on Saturday so he's been staying at home with her"

"Where's Caleb from?" Toby asked, then realised how sudden he sounded after he received weird looks from both Garret and Darren. "It's just that I recognise the name"

"Caleb's from everywhere" Garret said plainly. "He settled in Rosewood for high school, but that's all we know, he'd moved around a lot before that though"

Toby nodded and thought about it for a while before shaking the idea off and joining back in with the guy's conversation.

"-so Melissa thinks it'll be too cold in February to have to wedding" Garret was explaining to Darren.

"You're engaged?" Toby asked.

Garret smiled brightly. "To my girlfriend Melissa. We've been together since we were twenty, so for eight years now"

"Congratulations" He smiled and reached out to shake Garret's hand. "Looks like I'll be the last one to get married then"

"You not married yet Cavanaugh?" Darren teased. "Good-looking young lad like you is single? I can't believe it"

"I'm just looking for the right girl, someone who Casey will love as much as I do" Toby said, laughing at his own cheesiness, and also wondering why he was telling guys he didn't know very well his big secrets.

"Toby Cavanaugh, still as sentimental as you were when we were in fifth grade" Toby immediately knew the voice coming from the front of the office as Caleb Rivers. He looked up and he wondered how he could forget the guy. When Toby was in fourth grade at an Elementary School in New York, a boy called Caleb Rivers showed up, and by the time Caleb left again by the end of fifth grade the two were inseparable, but had not met again until now.

"And I see you haven't had a haircut since then either" Toby retorted with a cheeky grin, raising his eyebrows at Caleb's longer hair as he stood up.

"Get over here man" Caleb laughed as they walked to each other and came together in a half-manly handshake and half hug. "It's been like fifteen years"

"I know, how have you been?" Toby asked when they pulled away.

"Good, I got married four years ago and have two kids" He smiled. "I heard you have a daughter"

Toby nodded. "Her name's Casey, she's six"

"We'll have to get her and Ivy together sometime, she's only three but I'm sure they'll get along great" Caleb said. "Me and Hanna are having a Christmas party this weekend though, kids invited as well, come and bring along Casey as well"

"Thanks man I'll tell Casey about it later" Toby said.

"Great. Well I've got to fix the computer software but I'll catch up later"

"See you soon"

XXXXX

Toby got off work just after four and drove across to his Mum's house. It was quite decent: red-brick built along a quiet road opposite a small little park that was mostly deserted because most of Marion's neighbour's were her age.

Without knocking, Toby walked in and announced his arrival in the homely residence. Unsurprisingly, within seconds Casey had run down the hallway and jump into Toby's arms. He lifted her up and rested her on his side with ease.

"Hey Case, where's Grandma?" Toby asked after pressing a soft kiss on her temple.

"I'm here" He heard his Mother's laugh faintly from down the hallway and in the living room. Although she never liked to admit it, she was getting older and spending a time with an energetic Casey tended to knock to energy out of her; hence why Toby very rarely asks her to babysit for any longer than a couple of hours. Putting Casey back down, he led her back through to the living room and found his Mum struggling to get off the chair.

"Woah Mum, don't strain too much" Toby told her, gently placing his hand on her arm to help her up. Again she laughed musically.

"I'm fine Toby" She reassured him when she was stood up. "Casey, have you told Daddy what happened at school today?"

Casey beamed and started to jump up and down. "The teacher told me I'm going to be Mary in the Nativity!"

"That's fantastic!" Toby bent down and high-fived her. "Does that mean we have to go and buy you a blue dress?"

"No, I can wear my soccer strip" Casey shrugged.

Toby laughed and reached forward to ruffle her hair. "Sorry to burst your bubble kiddo but Mary didn't play soccer"

Casey stuck her bottom lip out. "Then I guess we do have to go buy a dress" She turned her nose up at the word 'dress'.

"Come on let's get home" Toby smiled and took Casey's hand. "What do we say to Grandma?"

"Thank you!" Casey nearly shouted and stood on her tiptoes to just be able to wrap her arms around Marion's waist.

"No problem sweetie, make sure you come back soon okay?" Marion smiled and kissed Casey's head.

"We will, thanks for looking after her Mum" Toby said and hugged his Mum. "If she ever gets too much then just tell me"

"Toby, that little girl can never be too much" Marion told him, not breaking eye contact. "She's special, you're lucky to have her"

"I know" He nodded. "I thank God for it everyday"


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N Okay so I know Christmas has now already been and gone, but this story is still going to start from December and work in the time span originally intended. So the Christmas spirit is going to be kept alive! **

**Eventually this chapter did get done, and here it is! Please enjoy! **

Wednesday 10th December

There was nothing Spencer loved more than a Wednesday. It wasn't that she didn't love her job because really she did, but she needed the day off in the middle of the week to simply relax and catch up on any book-marking or test results she had yet to do, but today she had none of that. Instead, she had plans to meet with Aria, Emily and Hanna along with Scarlet, Vanessa and Lewis at the Brew straight after she'd dropped Emmett off at school.

"Are we going to get my Joseph costume soon?" Emmett asked excitedly. When he came home from school yesterday he gave a very detailed explanation of their first rehearsal for the play, and that the teacher from his class and the first grader's teacher said he needed a costume for next week.

"We'll go this weekend" Spencer said. "See if Auntie Hanna can come with us?" Hanna owned a small boutique in Rosewood, and although it wasn't a big chain like Mona Kahn's, Spencer, Emily and Aria all much preferred it.

"Yeah! Casey's going to get a blue dress just like Mary" Emmett told her. From the past few days Spencer had gathered that Casey was new to Rosewood Elementary, was friends with all the nice girls who didn't have many cooties and was completely amazing at soccer; not that he really cared though, he was more of a basketball fan himself, he just enjoyed watching Zack get beaten. Which yes she knew she shouldn't tolerate, but god did she hold a strong disliking of that family.

"Oh really? Maybe Casey could come over after school one day then?" Spencer suggested. Emmett was quite shy at school, and it wasn't very often that he had friends round or went to other kid's houses. In the three years he'd been at school he'd been to approximately one slumber party.

Emmett look dumb-founded. "Bu-but, she's a girl" He said, as if Spencer had forgotten.

"I don't mind her coming over, as long as her Dad doesn't mind, and as long as you keep to bedroom door open" Spencer laughed. "Ask her at school today if she wants to come over"

"Okay" Emmett seemingly reluctantly agreed, although Spencer knew he didn't mind really. Anyone who was better than Zack at something was already in Emmett's good books. "But she'll probably say no"

"Well you won't know until you ask"

XXXXX

After a short conversation with Emmett's teacher about his excellent spelling test results, Spencer drove over to the brew. When she went in, she immediately saw Hanna sat with Lewis at the table closest to the counter.

"Hey Han" Spencer smiled when she sat at the table. "Hi Lewis" She cooed and started playing with the salt shaker in front of him, laughing when he suddenly stopped moving and paid complete attention to it.

"Finally you decided to show up!" Hanna exasperated. "I've been sat here all on my own for fifteen minutes! Where's Aria and Em? Didn't we agree to meet at 8:30?"

"No" Spencer corrected her blonde and clearly much stressed friend. "We agreed to meet at 9 to give me enough time to drop of Emmett at school, but it didn't take as long as I thought so I came early"

"Well it would have been nice to have a heads up" Hanna mumbled and brushed down a curl of blonde hair on Lewis's head. She had a bitter tone to her voice.

"It seems someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning" Spencer said with a spritz of sarcasm. "You going to tell me what's up?"

Hanna let out a long sigh, and seemed to be about to enter a long-winded explanation of what was getting to her until Aria trailed in carrying Scarlet in her car seat/carrier in one hand and tried to balance a baby bag and handbag in the other. Spencer got up to help her.

"Here let me take her" Spencer took the handle of Scarlet's carrier and placed it on the empty chair in between her and now Aria's seat, and waiting a few moments before taking her out.

"Finally you're here" Hanna said, still sounding annoyed. "I was thinking about going home"

"So this party thing on Saturday is really getting to you huh?" Aria guessed immediately. "You seemed stressed by the way you're bouncing Lewis on your lap like you're at the rodeo"

Hanna looked down, realised how much she was bouncing him, and rashly stopped moving her knee. "Yeah, there seems to be so many people coming! At first it was just going to be us lot and the kids, so that was only twelve people including us, which I could handle. But now Caleb's gone and invited Darren and Garret from work with their wives and kids, Gabriel and his girlfriend, plus some new guy at his work called Toby and his daughter. Apparently he went to elementary school with him and they were best friends"

"Wait did you say Garret was going to be there?" Spencer asked, tuning out of the conversation after hearing who had been added to the guest list.

"Yeah…Caleb invited him before I could say anything!" Hanna was quick to defend herself, because she knew that if Garret went, then Melissa would be sure to go to, and although the two sisters had been keeping tags on each other, Spencer hadn't had a face to face conversation with Melissa since she told Melissa that she was pregnant. "I hope you don't mind"

"No it's okay" Spencer offered a held-back smile. "Maybe it'll give us some time to reconnect, and I can meet my niece, and Emmett will be able to meet his cousin"

"So there's quite a few people coming then" Aria spun the conversation back around. "And a new guy?"

Hanna nodded towards the front door of The Brew where it seemed Emily was struggling to get in with a pushchair, but some guy that Spencer nor Aria recognised was helping her by holding the door open with one hand and lifting the front of the pushchair with the other.

"I'm pretty sure it's him" Hanna said sceptically, moving her head around to try get a better view of his face, but all of their views were blocked by Emily and Vanessa's pushchair.

A couple minutes passed and Emily came to the table with a coffee and the man who helped her come in, of whom Spencer now assumed to be Toby.

"Hey guys" Emily smiled and put her coffee on the table. "This is Toby, he's new to town"

"Toby Cavanaugh right?" Hanna said, swapping the knee that Lewis was sat on to the side further away from Toby.

"Yeah" Toby smiled, his bright blue eyes darting to the ground. "Not to sound rude but how do you know that?"

"Oh right yeah" Hanna shook her head, lightly laughing. "I'm Caleb Rivers wife, the Christmas party Caleb invited you to is in my house"

"Actually I do recognise you" Toby smiled a type of smile that Spencer thought had the power to dry oceans and move mountains. "Caleb's shown me some pictures. It's nice to officially meet you, and thank you for inviting us"

"It's my pleasure" Hanna lied through her teeth. "So I see you've met Emily?"

"Yeah he helped me get Nessie through the door" Emily explained when she sat down, and gestured for Toby to sit in the chair in between her and Spencer. "Toby this is Aria" She used the arm that she wasn't cradling Vanessa in to gesture to Aria. "And this is Spencer"

"Nice to meet you both" He smiled the same smile, except this time Spencer could have sworn she'd seen a blue flicker in his eye when they made eye contact that lingered a few moments too long. She also couldn't help but notice how he awkwardly rubbed is hands down his jeans, clearly feeling a bit of an outcast in a circle of girls with kids.

"So Toby" Hanna started, ignoring Lewis's babble. "Caleb tells me you have a daughter"

"Uh yeah" Toby nodded. "Her name is Casey, she's six and just started at Rosewood Elementary"

"Does she play soccer?" Spencer asked suddenly, then inwardly kick herself. She must have sounded like _such _a stalker. Wait, why did she care what he thought of her?

"Every day why?" Toby said with a slight smirk that Spencer couldn't work out was a sign of being freaked out or trying to be impressive.

"I think my son's friends with her, his name's Emmett" Spencer said.

Toby's eyes flashed brightly. "Oh you're Emmett's Mum! Casey talks about him a lot, he's playing Joseph in the Nativity play right?"

"Right" Spencer said with a slightly giddy-ish tone. God she felt like a teenager right now. "He mentioned you're new to the town?"

"Yeah we only moved here last week, but I think I've finally done most of the unpacking" He nodded, brushing a small stray of hair back on his head. Spencer swore her heart skipped a beat when his eyes met hers for the second time, even though it was only a blink.

"Well you want to get that done before Christmas" Aria added. Crap, Spencer had nearly forgotten that her friends were there, with their babies as well.

"I know" Toby said, sounding slightly ashamed that he wasn't at all prepared. "Do any of you happen to know where I could get a tree? I want to get one today before I have to pick up Casey"

"Me and Maya got ours from a garden centre in the town across" Emily said as she lightly bounced Vanessa in her arms. "Well I say me and Maya but I didn't go, I was home with this one" She rubbed her finger on Vanessa's cheek, making her do something that looked like what could develop into a smile.

"That's where me and Ezra got ours, too" Aria added, feeding some fruit puree to Scarlet. "I can't remember where it is though"

Toby looked to Hanna for an answer. "Woah don't ask me" She quickly said. "We have a fake one"

"Real classy Hanna" Spencer nearly rolled her eyes. She sincerely hated the fact people actually buy _fake _Christmas trees. The tree is the centre of the magic, if that's fake then what's next? How long would it be until the food is fake? Even until the love is fake?

"So Miss opinionated, where'd you get yours from?" Toby lightly laughed, and Spencer hoped the edge of flirtation that she thought she heard really was there and not just a hope in her head. Not that she was bothered if he wasn't flirting, their kids are friends so she guessed that sort of just made them mutual friends anyway. No need for flirting. Not that she knew how to do it anyway.

"I got it from my neighbours across the street, they sell them" Spencer said. "It's not a big commercial business or anything if that's what you're looking for"

"No, I much prefer the small businesses" Toby grinned. "If you aren't busy today, do you think you could show me where it is?"

Spencer hesitated slightly, dazed at his question. Thankfully, Hanna was there to answer for her. "Of course she can, in fact she can go as soon as she's finished her coffee"

"Uh yeah" Spencer piped in slightly awkwardly afterwards.

"Great"

XXXXX

Not gone unnoticed by her friends, Spencer drunk her coffee at near-record speed. She promised Emily she'd stop by later, since their plans were to go back to hers after coffee, but since none of them had mentioned that to Toby she got the feeling she shouldn't either.

"So did you want to follow me in your car?" Spencer suggested as they left The Brew and approached her car.

"Actually I walked here, my house is only like fifteen minutes away, I can go back and get it though" He said.

"No it's fine, by the time it takes to do that we could have brought one and taken back to your house in my car. Jump in" She insisted, covering her minor nervous twitch that she wasn't too sure why it had appeared in the first place.

"Okay thanks" Toby smiled that heart-shattering smile and went to the passenger side, but not before waiting for Spencer to unlock the car so he could open her door for her and help her in.

"Okay thanks" Spencer tried to mimic his smile as well as his tone and she thought she'd failed miserably until he laughed under his breath.

"Not to pry in your business or anything, but how come you aren't working on a Wednesday morning?" Toby asked. He didn't really know much about her, only third-hand knowledge of what Emmett had told Casey about his life and pieces Toby had put together. All he knew was that Spencer was a single Mum, but he wasn't sure on whether Emmett's Dad was still in the picture, even in the background.

"Oh I work part-time as a teacher" Spencer explained with a perspective glow. "Wednesday's my day off, and I leave early on a Friday and go in late on a Thursday, and another teacher covers my homeroom class" She stopped when she realised she answered the question in probably more depth than Toby was hoping for. "Sorry I'm going on a bit"

"No it's fine" Toby reassured her, and it instantly worked. "It sounds like you love your job, what subject do you teach?"

"French, I know it sounds nerdy but I love the language" Spencer said.

"It's not nerdy, I love it too, and I've just never got around to learning it. There's something so…" The words got stuck on the end of Toby's tongue.

"Sexy?" Spencer finished, arching one eyebrow while a blush crept up on Toby's cheeks. "I'm kidding" She laughed, and thankfully so did Toby. "So what do you do? Emmett mentioned that Casey told him you were a superhero, must be pretty cool right?"

Toby chuckled. "Yeah, when I'm not sitting at a desk drinking coffee and eating donuts"

"Oh so you're that type of cop?" Spencer teased as she turned down her street.

"You can't blame me when there's little to no crime in Rosewood" Toby defended himself. "And I have three guys constantly shoving them in my face"

"So peer pressure is your excuse?"

"Exactly"

XXXXX

The arrived at Spencer's neighbours, and apart from the easily miss-able sign at the end of the driveway, there was nothing that would have helped Toby find the house if it wasn't for Spencer driving him.

"Well thanks for the lift, I think I'll be able to find my way home" Toby smiled, unsure of whether to hug her or kiss her cheek or simply get out.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" She asked with a small smirk as he turned to get out. Did she want a kiss? He turned back around slowly. "You don't have a car here, and I don't think you'll be able to carry a Christmas tree across town very easily"

"Oh right, yeah" He scratched the back of his head. God did she have the power to make a guy forget what he was doing. "So do you just want to wait here?"

"Not really, but if you want me to I will" Spencer was a little let down, she didn't think she was being t_hat _annoying that he was already sick of her and even walked home.

"No, I'd much rather you came with me" Toby offered her a small smile that just made his left cheek concave into a small dimple. Smoothly, he slid out of the car and went around to Spencer's side before she could stop him and opened the door. "Careful it's a little icy"

Toby put his hand out to help her down, and she gratefully rested her palm atop his and made the usual small leap from the car seat to the ground, but she'd taken for granted what Toby had said about the ice and was completely unprepared for when her boots hit the ground and threatened to slide out from beneath her. If it wasn't for Toby's quick reflex of wrapping his arm around her waist and supporting her elbow with his other hand, she'd be flat on her arse.

Now, they were stood with their bodies so close that Spencer thought if you put a book between them it wouldn't slip. Toby's arm was still around her waist and supporting most of her small body weight, and their eyes were lost within each other's.

"You're eyes are beautiful" He whispered, entrance by Spencer's warm, chocolate eyes.

"I could say the same about yours" She giggled like she did when she was sixteen. Soon though, she felt a blush creep up her neck and slowly pressed her hands against Toby to push him back slightly. "Thanks for catching me"

"It was my pleasure" Toby said, still gazing at her face. _God she's beautiful. _"So do I knock on the door or go round the back?"

"Knock, Lucas should answer" Spencer told him as she brushed none existent fluff off of her ivy coat.

"You coming?" He asked when he realised she didn't look like she was moving for a while.

"In a bit, I think I'm just going to put some de-icer on the car, go on in and I'll be there in a minute" Spencer smiled, but still took in Toby's expression. "Don't worry he won't bite"

"Well if he does it's on you" Toby grinned, and Spencer was sure she saw a wink and tried not to faint. Spencer chuckled and shook her head, then waited for him to get welcomed into the home before resting her hands against her car and taking a deep breath.

She was getting some sort of feelings inside of her, even though she only knew Toby an hour. They made her feel…different. Like maybe the world was throwing something good at her after all.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N Hi, I'm sorry the update took so long! I really do wish I could do weekly updates but I really don't have the time to write so regularly, but please don't let that put you off reading the story! If you enjoy, please follow/favourite/review and the next chapter will be up ASAP.**

(Same Day)

Toby couldn't do anything but admit that the afternoon he spent with Spencer was one of the best he'd had in a long time. There was just something about her, that even in a few hours, made him feel ten years younger. And he liked that. Sometimes, when everyday has sunshine, you yearn for a splash of something different. Something like rain. And Spencer was his rain.

After buying a tree, Spencer drove him home and helped in prop it up in the front room before she left sooner than he would have liked. Ideally, he would have offered her a cup of coffee, but since he hadn't got round to grocery shopping yet, he wasn't really in the position to offer any, and Spencer's smile had left him too tongue-tied to be able to conjure up the words to ask her to stay a while. Her stupid chocolate eyes and stupid dimples rendered him speechless more times than one.

Excitement was an understatement for what Toby was feeling right now. In five minutes his Mum would arrive home with Casey from school, and he knew she'd be amazed at the Christmas tree stood in her living room. It was finely decorated; wrapped up in red and white tinsel from bottom to top, and lined with sparkly baubles and an array of Santa-shaped chocolate hanging from nearly every branch. There was even a thin frost of fake-snow covering the tree that Toby spent an hour trying to create. Now no Christmas tree was complete without presents underneath, so he also wrapped a few of Casey's presents and put them under it, and put under the presents she had got from her old school friends in Philadelphia. It really was beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Time passed slowly until Toby heard the certain sound of the front door being opened and Casey throwing her stuff down at the door. Before she had the chance to come into the living room, Toby rushed out to the front door where Casey was taking her shoes off.

"Hi Daddy!" Casey smiled while she struggled to undo the lace of her shoes, and Marion offered her help.

"Hi Case" Toby beamed and ruffled her hair. "I have a surprise for you"

His Mum smiled up at him, already in on the plan. "Did you hear that Casey?" She asked, pretty sure her grand-daughter was too concentrated on her shoes to be able to hear.

Casey nodded. "What is it?"

"Close your eyes" Toby told her. She giggled before tightly closing them.

"Now what?"

"Keep them closed" He said, guiding her carefully and slowly into the living room and facing her right in front of the tree, and Marion followed close behind with a camera. "Okay, now open them"

Casey waited a few second, brushing the stray wisps of blonde hair from her eyes with her palms before springing them open. She breathed in a sharp air of surprise, which was exhaled a few moment later as a squeal.

"You got a tree!" She nearly shouted as she ran towards it and poked the baubles, watching them swing backwards and forwards. "Just like you said you would!"

"Of course I did" Toby laughed at his little girl. "When have I ever lied to you?"

"Never" Casey smiled and ran back to Toby and hugged his legs. "Thank you thank you thank you! Now Santa can come!"

"Does it feel more like Christmas now?" Marion asked Casey.

She nodded vigorously with a huge grin, showing the gap of a missing tooth on the left side of her mouth. "Christmas trees mean Christmas!"

"That's right" Marion chuckled and pulled Casey in for a hug. "Does that also mean you're going to be extra good for Daddy? And remember your please and thank you _all _the time?"

Casey nodded again. "Daddy, can I _please _go play with my dolls in my room?"

"Sure" He decided. "But only while I talk to Grandma, because I know for a fact that you have homework to do"

"Okay" Casey smiled and ran off upstairs before he could even blink. Toby made himself and Marion a mug of coffee and sat on the sofa in the front room, still admiring Toby's work.

"So who helped you set all this up?" Marion asked with a smirk. She knew her son was strong, but she also knew that not in a million years could he pick the right tree that would fit in the living room properly, and not be too bushy, thin, tall, short, green or piny.

"One of the Mum's at Casey's school" Toby blushed a little through his coffee, knowing exactly where this conversation was going.

"Really?" Marion quirked an eyebrow. "Care to enlighten me?"

"Well, her name is Spencer, she has a son in the grade above Casey who is played Joseph in the Nativity play, she teaches at Rosewood High School-"

"Single?" Marion interrupted.

"Yes" Toby strung out. "But she's just a friend; she was really helpful today getting the tree and also offered to help Casey find an outfit for the Nativity"

"Well she sounds like a lovely girl" Marion took a sip of her coffee. "Any girl that can make my boy blush seems okay in my books"

Toby looked down and scratched his head awkwardly. "She just seems so…different from any girl I've ever met"

"In a good way or a bad way?"

"An amazing way" Toby said in a dreamily state. "The more I talked to her the more I wanted to get to know her"

"Sounds like somebody has a crush" Marion teased, pulling Toby out of his daydreams.

"I can't" Toby hesitantly responded. "I've only known her a day. Anyway, I'm twenty-three not twelve, I can't have a crush. It' just nice to know another friendly face in Rosewood"

"Another?" Mario's eyebrow twitched again. "Have you met other people?"

"A few" Toby pondered. "Remember Caleb Rivers from sixth grade?" Marion thought back some ten years before nodding. "Did you know he lives here?"

"Really?" Marion knew she didn't get out as much as she should, but she would have thought that she'd know at least a few people in the town besides the ones border lining the admission requirements to the Residential Home. "I've never seen him"

"Yeah he does all the computer software at the Station" Toby explained. "He's married and has a girl a little younger than Casey. He and his wife are throwing a Christmas party on Saturday and Case and I got invited. I met his wife earlier actually, she's friends with Spencer"

"So she'll be there then?" Marion asked. She was being awfully curious.

"I think so yeah" Toby answered a little sceptically.

"Oh" Marion grinned. "You better make sure you iron your shirt then"

He started to think about where the closest shop he could buy an iron from.

XXXXX

Spencer left Toby's silently cursing herself. Why did she make herself seem do desperate to leave when in fact more than anything she wanted to stay? Some sort of fluttery feeling, one she was unfamiliar with, had suddenly come over her and sent her flying back into adolescent. Honestly, a twelve year old girl with blue eye shadow and braces would probably be smoother than what she was with Toby, and yet she knew that her friends couldn't wait to find out what had happened on their little day out.

After leaving Toby's in a hot flourish, she drove straight over to Emily's to still try and catch their friends before she had to go to pick up Emmett from school. Unfortunately, by the time she had got there, the driveway was left absent of Hanna and Aria's cars, but Emily was still home and Spencer didn't even bother to knock before announcing herself into the soho-style house. It didn't take long before Emily came running through from the kitchen to greet her, looking rather hot and flustered and dressed in her running gear.

"Hey Spence" She smiled, still a little out of breath. "I was just finished my workout"

Luckily for them, Emily and Maya both worked two rather high-salary jobs that gave them enough money to have their own gym room be-fitted with all machines able to make a fitness freak faint. On the other hand, luckily for Spencer, Emily and Maya were not the type to go flaunting around their money or spending it on useless crap. Being a PE teacher, Emily needed the gym to keep fit anyway, and Maya admitted she wanted to get a little more toned, although Spencer didn't have to be a lesbian to realise the Maya's figure is as perfect as Channing Tatum's abs.

"What time did Aria and Hanna leave?" Spencer asks as she takes of her coat and drapes it over the pegs on the back of the door. She was hoping that maybe Emily had forgotten why exactly Spencer didn't come over, but she knew if she did it would be accompanied by a weird sort of eyebrow wiggle.

"About two hours ago" She told a quick glance at her sports watch. "You want some coffee?"

Spencer merely smiled and Emily knew that her friend was already tempted into it, so led her down the corridor and into the kitchen. She pulled out a stool for Spencer to sit at the island counter while she got to making to coffee.

"Is Vanessa asleep?" Spencer asked while she tapped her nails against the ivory counter-top. She was secretly hoping that the baby was awake, because Vanessa seemed to make you forget about everything in a matter of seconds.

She saw the back of Emily's head nod. "She should wake up soon for her milk though, I think going out this morning has tired her out because she slept through lunch" In all the commotion of the day, Spencer had forgotten that she hadn't had lunch either.

"Maybe she's tired from all of Hanna's babbling" Spencer chuckled and smiled thankfully when Emily passed her a mug that read 'my ass is hotter than whatever is in this mug'. "I know it sends me to sleep"

"I don't know, Hanna's babble today was rather interesting" Emily was hinting at something that Spencer knew was bound to come up. Toby.

"What was she saying?" Spencer didn't look up, but instead watched as her coffee still swirled in the mug.

"Just that she swore she saw a twinkle in your eye when you saw Toby" Emily teased. "And that you seemed very eager to be talking to him"

"Only because he's Emmett's friend's Dad!" Spencer was a heartbeat too quick to defend herself. "Emmett wants to invite Casey over for a play-date anyway so I figured I better be friendly with her Dad instead of giving him the hard shoulder!" Okay, that was only a partial lie about Emmett.

"Okay" Emily didn't believe a word. "So do you like him or not?"

"What? That's crazy!"

"I think it's crazy that you're trying to deny it" Emily raised her eyebrows. Before she could say anything else, cries started coming through to baby monitor. "I'll be back in a second"

Spencer was left alone in the kitchen while Emily jogged upstairs to Vanessa, and she hoped that would allow enough time for the blood that had risen to her cheeks in anger and embarrassment would mould back into her bloodstream. Unfortunately wasn't, so when Emily returned downstairs with Vanessa in tow, Spencer bit her tongue in her cheek while Emily smirked at her from the fridge where she was getting some milk to heat up.

"Here Spencer you want to feed her?" Emily offered once the milk was ready. She knew that Vanessa would get rid of any even remote anger Spencer had.

"Sure" She immediately perked up and sat up ready to hold Vanessa. Emily slid her daughter into Spencer's arms and then gave Spencer the bottle.

"I'm just going to get my phone and use the bathroom, are you okay feeding her alone?" Emily asked. Although she knew Spencer had plenty of experience with babies, she was still slightly cautious about leaving Vanessa alone with anybody.

"Em really?" Spencer was taken aback. "I've done this about a million times before, not only with my own son but my nieces and nephews" She regarded Hanna and Aria's children as nieces and nephews, it just seemed right.

"Right yeah, of course" Emily shook any concerns out of her head and went upstairs, leaving Spencer in the kitchen again but this time not alone.

Vanessa took the bottle easily and sucked gently on it. Her eyes concentrated on Spencer and the small smile plastered on her face. There was just something so enticing Spencer found in babies that she couldn't quite describe. The way you could just talk and talk to them and they can't tell anyone; you can reveal all your secrets and still feel secure at the same time. It made talking to yourself seem normal.

"Do you want to know a secret?" Spencer cooed at Vanessa as she eagerly sucked on the nib of the bottle. "I think I have feelings for that Man we met earlier; he's really nice. Well that's an under-exaggeration, he's amazing, and I've only known him for a day. Don't tell your Mumma, but earlier I got out the car and slipped on the ice, but Toby caught me. I can still feel the heat of his arms pumping through my veins, and the smooth of his skin is still on my fingertips, even though I know I shouldn't. I don't know what I'm feeling really, but what I do know is that I can't get this guy out of my head"


End file.
